Blogging My sheep hunt!

I have done a lot of research on this unit, and it appears that it "could" be an easy hunt. There are five tags for the unit, plus one non resident that can hunt the Nine mile unit (the one I have a tag for) or the Rattlesnake unit that is on the east side of the green river. From what I hear most of the rams are shot in the first 3 days. The hunt is the whole month of November, so the rams will be rutting, and therefore easier to find as you just find a band of ewes, and then you look for rams in close proximety. There are good quality rams in the unit, with the possibility of shooting a book ram. (180" or bigger) I plan to make the most of the hunt, and hold out for the best ram possible. I may just skip the first week of the hunt to avoid the other hunters, as they typically have a lot of people with them.

As far as guns go, I will be building a rifle just for this hunt. I am still deciding between a fast 7 wildcat that is based on a 338 ultra case, or going with a 300 ultra in a rifle build spec. that I have been planning for a while. In either case, I will be using high BC VLD type bullets, for a possible long shot. This is longrangehunting.com!

I have narrowed down the areas that I will be scouting based on known good rams in the area in the past couple of years, and known areas that other hunters tend to avoid because of difficult access. Hopefully these two criteria will help this to be a hunt that is more than drive up, spot a ram, and shoot the ram. Trying to pattern a ram at this time of year is a waste of time as they are on the summer range, and will likely be far far away come november. Scouting now will give me the opprotunity to familiarize myself with the areas that I will be hunting later.

I Hope you didn't think from my post that my approach was to *drive up, spot and shoot a ram*. The ram I shot happened to be right above my truck which I saw after coming back on foot from a tough morming hunt through some rugged badland country. I might also mention, that I backpacked 13 miles in to the Absoraka Range with 50 lb pack the prior spring on a scouting trip for sheep only to be chased out by a June snow storm. And the previous year I had bought an over the counter *unlimited* sheep tag in the Spanish Peaks area. I backpacked 6 mile up into the Spanish Peaks with 55 lb pack and 9 lb rifle only to find out via helicopter dropped pamphlets that huning season had bee canceled due to forest fires and dry conditions. That was back in 88, the year Yellowstone burned and much of Montana. I decided to climb up on the ridges to have a look around anyway since I was already there. Adding those trips together along with my first trip in Sep 89, and I probably put about 70-80 boot miles on in fairly rugged and steep terrain in pursuit of my ram, most of which carrying a good size pack. I detest road huning, except in the case of antelope hunting when I sometimes will drive around to look for a heard, then I will get out and stalk it.

Anyway, it sounds like you have a good spot and are doing your homework. The VLD is a great ballistic bullet, but I dont use them for hunting because of their explosive nature at higher velocities. My concern would be the possibility of ruining your cape with a VLD. I personally would choose something that stays in tact, such as a TSX, E-Tip, Partiton, A Frame or Accubond. I would probably go with the accubond as they have good BC's. One other thing, If you would really like a 180+ ram, I would encourage you get as close as you can to judge it. It will probably be difficult to judge between a 170 and 180 ram at long ranges unless he's a real monster, especially if you dont have a lot of experience at spotting rams. Try to find good pictures of B&C rams if you can and better yet, actual mounts. My 185 ram was only 6 yrs old with less than 40" horns and only just a little more than a 3/4 curl. But he had a very open curl, big bases and lots of mass. There are a few B&C rams on display at different locations here in Montana. Mostly at F&G offices.

My goal was to get a *nice* ram, not necessarily B&C, and I was blessed with a B&C sheep. Any mature ram is a trophy. I hope you do well and good huning. Would love to hear about the progress of you rifle.

Mark

__________________
- Mark

You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you make good use of it.
~ John Quincy Adams

I Hope you didn't think from my post that my approach was to *drive up, spot and shoot a ram*. The ram I shot happened to be right above my truck which I saw after coming back on foot from a tough morming hunt through some rugged badland country. I might also mention, that I backpacked 13 miles in to the Absoraka Range with 50 lb pack the prior spring on a scouting trip for sheep only to be chased out by a June snow storm. And the previous year I had bought an over the counter *unlimited* sheep tap in the Spanish Peaks area. I backpacked 6 mile up into the Spanish Peaks with 55 lb pack and 9 lb rifle only to find out via helicopter dropped pamphlets that huning season had bee canceled due to forest fires and dry conditions. That was back in 88, the year Yellowstone burned and much of Montana. I decided to climb up on the ridges to have a look around anyway since I was already there. Adding those trips together along with my first trip in Sep 89, and I probably put about 70-80 boot miles on in fairly rugged and steep terrain in pursuit of my ram, most of which carrying a good size pack. I detest road huning, except in the case of antelope hunting when I sometimes will drive around to look for a heard, then I will get out and stalk it.

Mark

Mark, sheep hunting is an interesting addiction. A guy can spend years busting his arse climbing up and down mountains with a heavy pack. Only to turn a corner one day in a valley bottom to see a ram. In my opinion sheep are earned cumulatively over the years that go into hunting them, not just what happened on the day that the sheep was harvested.

Mark, I was not refering to your hunt when I said that about the drive up and shoot a ram. From your story, I got the impression that you had earned your ram, and just happened to see a good ram after bustin your butt! Thats hunting, you find them where they are. I am refering to comments that have been made about the particular unit that I drew. It is not a typical sheep hunt from what I hear. Very low pressure, lots of sheep, and they are concentraited during the time of the hunt. I think it will be as hard or easy as I decide to make it. I was just saying that I wanted it to be memorable. Nothing in hunting has ever come easy for me, I always seem to work for my animals, and I shouldn't assume that this hunt will be any different.

As far as bullets selection, I have thought of the possibility of a close shot and ruining the cape, or having a bullet hit a horn on a long shot. I am just thinking out loud, and appreciate the feedback. I have some good 200gr AB loads worked up already, and will probably go that route. Best of both worlds I think. I will definatly not be backing up, so I can say that I shot it at long range. I have done plenty of extended range shooting, and killed a bull elk at 1303 yards 2 years ago. I know my limitations, and would not jeoprodize a trophy of a lifetime over wanting to kill it at long range. Would I pass up a 600-700 yard shot if I couldnt get closer, no way, but I would try to get closer on this hunt.

Thanks for the advise on trophy judging. I have been looking over a lot of pictures and mounts already, getting walked through how to judge a sheep. I am fortunate in two areas, I have a herd of sheep with book rams in it that live within a couple of miles of me that I can look at all summer long, and second, I will have the help of a couple of outstanding sheep hunters that "know" what a big ram looks like. They will be on the hunt with me, as well as scouting trips throughout the year. The odds are in my favor to shoot a good sheep, I just need to not screw it up. The advise that I keep getting, is "dont put a stalk on a sheep unless I intend to shoot it, because odds are that I will shoot it because its there and in range!" Apparently the temptation to shoot becomes overwhelming, even if the ram is not exactly what the hunter is looking for.

Congrats on the upcoming wedding! Just don't spend your honeymoon in the Book Cliffs!!

You are wise to make the most of this hunt. I would be in the unit on opening day just in case the big boy happens to be there but there are rams that come out of the woodwork later on in the hunt and most of the other hunters have already left with smaller rams. The rut really hits at the tail end of this season and you can literally just sit in one spot by a ewe band and watch incoming rams all day long. It's like clockwork.

Thanks GG. Its funny about the honeymoon in the book cliffs, not quite, as I will be scuba diving in Mexico! But she wants to come and hunt with me for a couple of days, just to see what all of this non-sence is about. I told my son that she wanted to come, and he said "You can't start her out on a sheep hunt, she needs to earn the right to go sheep hunting!" I guess that all that he has to reference is what I have put him through over the years. LOL!

Are there any good rams running around the McDonalds? I saw some pictures of a decent ram that was picked up by some lion hunters up there. I hope that was not the last mature ram in the bunch. Apparantly this ram was not a lion kill, but the cats have been taking their toll!